Anatomy of a Girl Gang (9781551525303) (14 page)
Read Anatomy of a Girl Gang (9781551525303) Online
Authors: Ashley Little
I stayed in the hallway for a second, listening to her gentle voice telling Sly she was gonna feel better real soon. I sighed and went into my room, closed the door. I clenched and unclenched my fists as I stared into the mirror. One thing was for certain, we were gonna find the guys who did this to her and we were going to make them sorry they'd ever been born.
My stomach growled, and I thought of my abandoned spaghetti. None of us had eaten. I ordered three large pizzas and waited by the door, chain-smoking.
The four of us sat in the front room eating pizza and drinking Lucky Lager.
So � Kayos said around a mouthful of Hawaiian.
So? Mac said.
What are we gonna do?
What do you mean?
Well, we're gonna fuck these motherfuckers up, right?
Mac laughed quietly and looked down at her plate. Yeah.
Well, alright! Let's make a plan then, yo.
Kayos was just like she'd been in elementary school, always looking to kick the shit out of somebody. I guess people don't really change.
That night we decided to let Sly Girl rest until she was ready to come out hunting with us. Later, we would find and abduct her attackers and make them get down on their knees and beg her for forgiveness. We would give them some kind of souvenir to remember us by. Maybe knife slashes across the cheeks. Maybe rip them a new asshole. Maybe both.
itz hard out here 4 a g. alwayz gotta B watchin yr bak. watchin yr friendz bak. watchin out 4 copz. watchin out 4 ppl wanna rob U, play U, rape U, $lay U. evrybudee wanna get paid. get laid. get made. evrybudee wanna be on top. cru$h U just 2 get dere. ju$t another day in da hood.
Layin in the filth of that alley, seein my own blood pool around my head, I thought I was dead, I really did. And if I wasn't already, I wanted to be. I couldn't move, couldn't speak. Felt like my insides had been rammed up into my throat. Everythin throbbing, aching, bleeding. I listened for their voices, but alls I could hear was static, like a TV channel that don't work. I just closed my eyes and hoped it would be over sooner than later. But it never was. It never, never was. I guess I blacked out for a while, I don't know for how long. When I opened my eyes again, there was a huge rat in my face, snifflin around my ear. Oh, man, it took everythin I had to roll over and away from it. The pain of a hundred knives shot through my body when I did. I wondered if I'd been stabbed. I couldn't breathe properly. I wished some junkie would come by and give me a pity shot. But no one came. I reached into my pocket and texted Mac. Then passed out again.
When I came to again, I was on the couch at home, wrapped in blankets, and my girls were gathered round me, their faces all twisted with worry. I hated what had happened, but I loved that they were there. They wanted to take me to the hospital, but I said no way. Hospital's where you go to die. Everyone from the rez who ever went to the hospital never came back. All of them died in there. Not even all old people eitherâlots of young people too. My cousin Mel died in hospital, my Auntie Linda, lots of people. Not me, though. Cuz I ain't goin. The girls wouldn't understand that, so I didn't bother explainin.
Plus it was hard to talk, like I was so outta breath, it felt like I'd just run across the city and back. Then I pictured myself in that weird German movie. I've got awesome bright red hair and I'm runnin away forever. The girls brung me some water so's I can talk better, and I said what they done to me. It wasn't the first time, but it was the worst. I felt all broken inside. Felt like shards of glass were all stuck up in me down there. Everythin hurt. Even my hair hurt. I wondered how much more of this life I could take, and I wished I could tie off right there on the couch, jam a needle in my arm and float away.
Mac and Mercy helped me get into the shower, and at first the water hurt. Felt like wasps stingin me all over. I felt dizzy and sick as I watched my blood swirl down the drain. My wrist felt like it had been smashed by a hammer, and I had a flash memory of one of them standin on it while the other one ⦠I threw up then and it went down the drain with everythin else.
Mercy helped me get out of the shower and wrapped a blue towel around me. You'll be alright in a little while, Sly Girl. You're a tough cookie.
Yeaah.
You tired?
Yeaah.
Let's get you into bed.
Okay.
Mercy helped me put on my pyjamas and get into bed like I was a little kid.
Mac came in and asked me how I was doin.
Been better, I said.
Yeah, I guess so. I'm so sorry this happened to you, Sly Girl. I feel awful.
It wasn't your fault, I whispered.
She shrugged. Maybe.
What's important now is that you rest and get well, Mercy said. But you might have a concussion so we're going to need to wake you up every couple of hours.
What?
Just to make sure, you know â¦
What?
To make sure you don't fall into a coma.
Really?!
Don't worry. Just relax. We're going to look after you. She looked at Mac, and Mac nodded.
I closed my eyes and stared at the red blobs on the inside of my eyelids.
Sly?
Mmhmm?
Got you a magic pill. It was Kayos, holdin a pink pill and a glass of water out to me.
Pain killer?
Baby stopper.
After school on Monday, I went to Sport Chek and bought two steel bats. Then I took the bus down to the house on Cordova. Sly Girl was propped up on the couch watching
Scarface
. I asked her if she needed anything.
Yeaah.
What?
A new set of lungs.
I'll see what I can do. But no promises.
She laughed. Her breathing was raspy and stuttery. She had been stabbed that night in Crack Alley, and our best guess was that they'd punctured her lung. She still refused to go to the hospital, though, so we just hoped to hell it didn't get infected and did what we could to keep her comfortable.
Got a smoke?
Not for you.
Come on! she whined.
Seriously?
How bout a joint?
No fucking way are you smoking any-fucking-thing, Sly Girl! You want your fucking lungs to collapse? Fuck! Did your brain get damaged when you fell?
She turned away from me and stared at the TV screen.
Sorry.
She shrugged.
Are you in pain?
She nodded. We watched as Al Pacino smoked a cigar in a huge bubble bath.
I wouldn't mind seeing what's underneath those bubbles.
Sly giggled.
How bout I make you some weed tea?
She shrugged again, and I went into the kitchen to look for some cream.
Mac and Z were cleaning each other's tonsils in front of the fridge. I coughed loudly and they slowly drifted apart.
What's up, Kayos? Z said.
Yo.
Mac's face flushed pink, and she wouldn't meet my eyes. She took Z by the hand and they went into their room.
I wished I had someone to make out with. Not one of the girls, obviously, but someone ⦠hot. Someone my own age. I ground up a gram of weed and boiled the water. A vision of Roger getting out of the shower flooded my head. I don't know why. I didn't ever want to think of him like that. Ever. I squeezed my eyes shut to get him outta there. I thought of this guy from my high school, Ben McInnis. He was popular, a jock. Six foot two inches, crewcut, rugby shirts, dimples. He was not my type at
all
. He didn't know I existed, and even if he did, he would never, never kiss me. I left the tea to steep, went into the bathroom, and locked the door.
It could have happened to any of us, that's what scared me. There was nothing we could have done. We told her not to go down there alone, and she did. But it wasn't anyone's fault. Everyone thinks that they can do it alone. Until something like this happens.
A couple days after it happened I went to an ATM in Gastown and relieved a fat suit of $300 he would've wasted on bad cologne and titty magazines. Then I went to Mountain Equipment Co-op. I bought five cans of bear spray. I didn't steal it because the metal detector would have gone off and they had a handful of secret shoppers in there anyway. No point ruining my clean record now. The cashier gave me a look like, what's up with you, bear-trainer chick? But I kept my face blank and didn't say a word. Sure, we all had guns, but you can't just go around shooting people every week. Sooner or later, someone's going to start to notice. I still couldn't believe that Kayos had gotten away with murder, and I knew that eventually, it would come back to haunt us. That's the way this game works. No one ever really gets away with shit like that. Maybe for a while, but not forever.
The mace came to $112. I got a falafel for lunch and brought the rest of the cash home to Mac for our condo fund. Someday soon, we'd be set up sweet in West Van, sipping lattes on our balcony, overlooking Burrard Inlet, the Lions Gate Bridge.
I gave every girl a can and showed them all how to spray it. And don't use it if the wind's blowing toward you!
No shit, Sherlock, Mac said.
I stuck out my tongue at her and she made a pig face.
A timer went off in the kitchen, and we both reached for our guns.
Z stood up. Who wants pie?
I do!
Kayos jumped up and ran into the kitchen. The timer quit beeping. Mac and I looked at each other.
Never heard the timer go off before.
Something about it made me think of a bomb.
Me too.
Sly Girl giggled at us from the couch. You guys are paranoid.
Z and Kayos brought out apple pie and plates. They took a piece to Sly Girl, and the rest of us sat around the table and ate it all up.
This is delicious, babe! Mac said.
Yeah, it's hella good, Z.
It was really easy to make.
You know what? Sly Girl said. I think I'm ready to go looking for them guys tonight.
Yes!
Kayos yelled, her knees bouncing up and down.
Are you sure? I asked her. We don't have to. It can wait until you're feeling better.
Totally, said Mac. There's no rush.
Nah. We should go now. Tonight. Before I forget what they look like.
Alright. If you're sure.
We
are gonna fuck up their shit, Sly. No doubt.
Yeaah.
Hells, yeah.
We all punched knuckles. I wondered if the others had the same heavy feeling in their guts as I did.
It happened five days ago. My breathin was gettin better and the swellin in my face had gone down, but I still felt like someone had taken a blowtorch to my bones. Z made me a wrist splint, and I knew I wasn't gonna have a baby, so that was the biggest thing out of the way. A part of me was still afraid though. I locked myself in the bathroom and looked in the mirror for a long time. My face was fucked. Broken nose, two black eyes turning blue-green, split lip, cut on my cheek, cuts on my forehead, plus my eye that was already a write-off. My face couldn't possibly get any more fucked up. I felt real sad for a minute, and thought I might cry, but there was just nothin there no more to cry about. It was a different feeling inside now, like dry and sharp, angry. Okay, Sly Girl, I said to myself. This is it. If you ain't ready now, you ain't never gonna be ready. I went back out to the kitchen where the girls sat at the table eating pie. Let's go get those fuckin assholes.
Tonight?
Yeaah.
Yeeeeooow! No one fucks with a Black Rose!
You fuck with the Black Roses, the Black Roses are gonna fuck with you!
We gonna whup some ass to-night, bitches! For real!
Mercy, Mac said. We're gonna need an SUV for this.
I'm on it.
A few hours later, we all piled into a black Explorer. I got to sit shotgun. They wrapped me in blankets and told me not to
get out of the car no matter what. Mac and Kayos each held a bat across their laps. Z had a roll of duct tape. We all had our guns. And the bear spray.
My heart beat faster as we got closer to Crack Alley. The streets were shiny with rain. Mercy slowed down as we passed Pigeon Park. Two guys huddled on a bench, tryin to light a pipe.
Is that them?
I squinted through the darkness. I don't know. I can't tell. It's too dark.
Kayos sighed. Tell us what they look like.
Well, they were both skinny. You know, cracked-out like.
Yeah, and?
They were both wearing black.